Towards a Just and Lasting Peace:
An international anti-imperialist conference against imperialist
war and plunder
Vancouver, BC, Canada
June 16 to 19, 2006
Organized under the auspices of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS)
Introduction
Today, we are in the midst of an unprecedented situation of imperialist
war and plunder. As the crisis of the world capitalist system deepens,
the US and its imperialist allies are driven to launch wars of aggression
in their mission to intensify the exploitation and oppression of the working
masses. The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, under the
pretext of the so-called war on terror, have resulted in the deaths and
displacement of thousands of people. Now, the conditions for bigger wars
and intensified militarization, aggression and fascism loom as the crisis
of imperialism worsens.
Yet, this crisis has also generated favourable conditions for people’s resistance against imperialism, war and plunder to advance. The people’s demand for a genuine, just and lasting peace is growing. While large-scale mass mobilizations against the wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken place, there is an urgent need to advance a critical analysis of the question of peace. Peace does not just mean the absence of war, for we must also confront the questions of the root causes of imperialist war, plunder and conflict. There is a need to counter deceptive and empty slogans of unprincipled pacificism and security espoused by imperialists and their agents.
We also need to understand and recognize the important role of those at the forefront of the fight for a genuine, just and lasting peace through movements for national liberation, including armed struggles (like those in Iraq, Palestine, the Philippines, Nepal and Colombia), and through mass organizations of workers, peasants, women, youth and other sectors of oppressed peoples in the countries of the North and South.
Through this international conference, we hope to take on the imperative task of raising the level of awareness, consciousness, militancy and action amongst anti-imperialist, democratic, and progressive mass organizations and individuals on the questions of imperialism, war and plunder; the demand for a just and lasting peace; and the role of movements for national and social liberation.